


just my type

by milkdaze (flowerstems)



Series: feel good inc. [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Day 3, M/M, Olivarry Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-21
Updated: 2015-10-21
Packaged: 2018-04-27 09:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5042605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerstems/pseuds/milkdaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So they all overheard his and Oliver’s playful flirting, something perfectly normal that all vigilantes do when they are working together, surely, and they all draw the conclusion that he and Oliver are dating. Amazing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	just my type

It starts when Barry slips up.

 

Oliver, Felicity and Diggle are back in Central City; apparently there's this guy with these dangerous things and his trail led them here, at least that's what Felicity says. Barry just nods and pretends to understand that vague explanation, even though the look on Felicity’s face makes him think she's just joking.

Turns out she wasn't: three days later they catch up with the guy, probably because Oliver doesn't sleep (Barry is of the firm belief that somehow, some way, Oliver just doesn't sleep) and it really is hard to describe him as little more than a guy with some dangerous things.

Mr. bad-guy-of-tonight has all these weapons and no idea how to use them. This is good because he can't destroy any continents with his ignorance; however, he can destroy a few cities with the infinite rapid fire of at least three of those guns.

Barry doesn't want to know what the knife with the eerie glow can do.

Cisco, on the other hand, is very excited about these elaborate, glowing weapons and he won't stop talking about them, so Barry announces he's turning his earpiece off as a joke, but when Cisco doesn’t stop his excited babbling Barry really does turn it off.

So for the rest of the night, as he and Oliver work to neutralise Mr. Weapon-Abuser, Barry kind of forgets that the others are monitoring them and that making the kinds of jokes and comments he has the urge to make should have been more thoroughly considered.

Thing is, he's pretty damn comfortable with Oliver and he ends up making too many dumb jokes and too many off-handed comments about Major Lazers over here. He may have put a lid on it if Oliver didn't respond or snicker from time to time, and when Oliver almost gets blasted by a very red, very dangerous-looking beam—the atoms were crackling, as though they were burning their way through the air, Barry thinks that counts as dangerous—he dashes over and pulls him out of the way. And that's when he says it, it's quick and off-handed and a _joke_ but he says, “Careful, babe. The only one you're supposed to be _burning_ up for is me,” with a wink then dashes off.

Five minutes later they have the guy tied up and Oliver looks at Barry, lips quirked in a vague smile as he picks up one of the guns before saying, “Good job tonight, _honey_.”

Barry laughs and drops their gift wrapped criminal off in front of the police department while Oliver collects the weapons and takes them back to STAR labs (Barry still gets there before him).

Except when he comes to a stop with a gust of wind and a grin on his face it turns out the resounding congratulations isn't referring to their successful capture—

“So how long have you and Oliver been, you know, dating?”

—turns out they think Barry and Oliver are a ‘thing’ now.

Barry looks at Caitlin and tries so hard not to stammer, tries to force out that this is a misunderstanding, but she takes his reaction as some kind of bashfulness, laughs and hugs him instead of pressing her question. He can see Harrison over her shoulder, he just kind of nods with that smile of his, but otherwise he seems generally disinterested. And disapproving.

Cisco slaps a hand on his shoulder when Caitlin lets him go, “So that’s why you turned off your earpiece. Don’t worry man, I'll hook you up.” Barry doesn't even want to know what Cisco means by that.

Diggle doesn't say anything, just smiles at him as though he possesses some deep understanding of love, which he probably does, but he has the wrong idea oh _god_ —

“Congrats, Barry.” Felicity spins in her chair and looks at him with her bright pink smile and Barry realises it's all over. He's screwed, they are all, each and every one of them, suffering from this mass hallucination that’s mostly his fault. Oliver is going to—

Oh shit. _Oliver_.

He can see the motorcycle come to a stop in front of the lab through the surveillance, he can see Oliver grab his bow and the case of strange weapons, all very dangerous weapons, and thirty seconds later he walks in all business and mild relief and Barry is going to die tonight.

They hit him with the same stream of congratulations and at first he doesn't suspect a thing, the same way Barry didn't, and then Diggle walks over and puts a hand on his shoulder with the same melting, all-understanding smile and Barry can see the gears in Oliver’s head start to spin the other way.

He turns to Felicity, the question in his throat and almost out his mouth when Felicity jumps to her feet, bubbling with her excitement. “Oliver, you never told us that you and Barry were, you know, together! You could’ve said that you guys were a thing! I mean, not that you'd have to, that's your personal business, but…” Felicity is talking at a speed to rival Barry’s and Barry can see Oliver picking out bits and pieces of what she's saying and slowly beginning to understand the situation.

Oliver turns his head to look at Barry and Barry doesn't know if he wants to run or stand perfectly still. After two seconds on the receiving end of that death glare, Barry ends up laughing, and Oliver tips his head to the side before sighing and turning back to Felicity.

“Felicity,” Oliver interrupts her with the kind of calm that gets Felicity to calm down a little as well, then he puts a hand on her shoulder and continues, “Barry and I aren't… a ‘thing’. Okay?”

It's quiet for a while as Felicity nods, slow, then she laughs and looks between all of them, “You're joking, right? If you think we can't keep this a secret, I think you've seen we're all pretty good at secrets, right?”

There's a resounding agreement and Barry can see the confusion set on Oliver’s face again. “What—”

“Don't worry, Oliver. Your secret’s safe with us.” Felicity smiles, seems so damn pleased with herself for some reason, and she puts her hands on her waist as she adds, “Again.”

Barry thinks it's time he said something so he steps forward, a little closer to the centre of the room, “Listen, guys, we're really not together.”

Cisco laughs, loud and each ha is punctuated with an invisible exclamation mark, “Dude, we heard all you guys’ hardcore flirting!” He taps his ear lightly and Barry remembers the earpiece.  
  
Oh.  
  
Just because he couldn't hear them doesn't mean they couldn't hear him. He glances at Felicity and she nods as well—right, Oliver has one of those, too.

So they all overheard his and Oliver’s playful flirting, something perfectly normal that all vigilantes do when they are working together, surely, and they all draw the conclusion that he and Oliver are dating. Amazing.

Everyone in this room is so stubborn it is absolutely amazing. Barry would laugh if Oliver weren't fixing him with a look that most likely meant: I am going to shoot you. With all my arrows.

That is essentially how their partners in crime began thinking Barry and Oliver were crime-fighting _partners_.

 

It's been a week since then, and in that time they've been set up on at least ten different dates. They've been back and forth between their cities, and it's sort of impractical, so Barry starts running over to Starling City to spare Oliver a few train rides. Only a few because, “I can't be the only one coming over to visit. Oliver, relationships work both ways.”

Oliver ‘accidentally’ shoots Barry during one of their subsequent training sessions.

They go on every arranged date because why not? It's during their free time and that’s the only reason. Maybe they can afford to train a little less and rest a little more, and they each have a tag team that would not let them exist peacefully unless they go out. Something about being workaholics and needing to “spend time with your better halves.” Gotta love their friends.

At first, the dates were almost strictly business; Oliver would give Barry advice on how to survive the vigilante lifestyle over coffee, but then Barry would get Oliver to relax a little more each time they went to see a movie or visited an exhibition The Flash saved the day before or ate out at a restaurant The Arrow almost destroyed two weeks ago.

(“They come down pretty hard on you, Mr. Starling vigilante.”

“Wait until they find out that I work with Central’s finest. It'll only get worse.”

Barry probably shouldn't laugh, but he does.)

Most dates consisted of Oliver brooding over lost time and various misunderstandings, this one included, and Barry calling him out on it, telling him that brooding is an even bigger waste of time. The first few times Barry said that, Oliver looked incredibly offended and positively murderous at the same time, but Barry has recently developed a kind of immunity to those scathing looks, so Oliver is using them less and less.

The dates aren't all that bad. It takes a while but they fall into a rhythm, get in tune with each other in their own weird way. They pick up each other’s little quirks, they can pick out the good moods from the bad moods, they can tell when something mildly irritating or potentially devastating happened. They coordinate much better as The Flash and The Arrow.

It's a little strange, but by week three of being pushed into dates by their oh-so-caring cupids, it feels like they know each other like the backs of their hands. Sometimes they even pretend to be an honest to god couple, especially when they're bored. They drop idle pecks on each other's cheeks, wrap an arm around the other's waist, rest an arm along the backs of the seats in the theatres, drop a hand low on the small of the other's back as they walk from here to there. Perfectly normal vigilante behaviour.

But they still insist they're not together (guys, we really aren't together, we're not a thing), and the others still insist on not listening (you’re both so shy, who would have thought vigilantes could be so adorable).

Recently, ‘we're not together’ has been sounding less and less like the truth, and Barry isn't sure what he's supposed to do with that.

 

He may not know what to do with that, may not know exactly where he stands with Oliver anymore, but that doesn't mean he's not going to do anything. He's Barry Allen, he'll damn well figure something out.

 

“You know, you're not so bad when you're not moping all over the place. You know that long-suffering expression? Felicity calls it your mopey face.” Barry isn't sure why he's saying this, but they just finished watching some romcom that was both yay and nay. Barry would give it a five on the movie scale. “You're not so bad when you're not wearing your mopey face.”

Oliver looks at him like he can't believe Barry just said that, but when Barry just holds his gaze with a boyish smile Oliver shakes his head and fights down a laugh. “Yeah? Well, you're not so bad yourself, especially when you're speaking English.”

Barry fakes offence, lets his mouth drop open with the retort, “Well, newsflash, the fact that you can actually smile, and that a smile actually looks good on you, is kind of amazing.”

“Ha ha, funny.” Oliver rolls his eyes and manages a scoff. Barry can't help wondering if Oliver's trying not to laugh at the pun or the comments about his expressions. “Well, you're actually pretty fun, especially when you're not being a total nerd.”

“Your mopey face isn't so bad.”

“Your nerdiness is sort of cute.”

They've stopped walking now, people passing them by on the sidewalk, and looking at each other in the city's night lights feels a lot more natural than it should.

Oliver looks like he wants to say something, Barry can see him turning the thoughts over and over in his head, and he's struck with a realisation, the same realisation Oliver may or may not have had, the same realisation Oliver may have kept quiet about until fate worked against him.

Barry thinks fate is working against him right now.

“We, uh.” Barry isn't sure what he's going to say, but it's got to be better than saying nothing, right? He learnt that a while ago, learnt that silence can lead to loss, and Barry really doesn't want to lose Oliver. “We might actually be a thing, huh?”

Oliver looks at him with this smile, it's a mix of emotions, it looks like yes and no and I hope so and I want to be, but I don't know. His lips are pressed together tight and Barry almost thinks he won't say anything for the rest of the night, but then his entire body seems to relax and he says, “Yeah, maybe.”

  
Barry lights up at that, uncertainty dropping from his smile and he stands a little taller, a little prouder, and like a mirror Oliver's smile relaxes, sort of shines under the street light. Suddenly he realises they can't just stand in the middle of the sidewalk staring at each other, so he makes some joke, it's something dumb and he can't even remember what he said, but it makes Oliver laugh. It hits him then, like a brick wall, the sensation familiar and personal to Barry, that he doesn't mind this, whatever this is, whether they’re a thing or not. He doesn't really mind at all. 

**Author's Note:**

> i needed to write this, i couldn't not write this. i messed up though, the fake relationship became real. title from saint motel's 'just my type'.


End file.
